Alright, I first saw Crossroads Cafe when I was 12/13 years old, in my final years of Junior High School. I came home early from class one day watching television, (and the television providers in the Los Angeles area where I lived, had a bunch and a handful of 24 hour public access television channels, that would play nothing but really cheesy educational shows. However, Crossroads Cafe (which they would air a couple of episodes in the early afternoon like around one, then repeat those same episodes later in the evening around five.) was different. It was and is and educational series, but it presents itself as a very interesting, eccentric, and for the most part engaging entertaining series. I remember the episodes would air out of order (as the series does follow a connecting plot somewhat.), but that was okay, as each episode (with the exception of the last few episodes), you can basically watch and get right into the story, not be confused that much, and still be interested and entertained.
At that time, I never saw the complete series, but all the episodes (at least as of Fall 2020) are available on YouTube, and I finally saw every single episode.
The premise of the series revolves around Victor Bradshov. Victor is a Russian/Romanian heavy set man, who is the primary main character. Victor is an older man, who's wife recently passed away, and he is experiencing what looks like is a midlife crisis. He decides to fulfill a dying wish by his wife, which was to open a restaurant.
On the pilot episode, it is opening day at the restaurant, which Victor still has not yet given a name to. Victor hired a chef for the restaurant, but he gets into a quarrel with him, and the chef decides to quit. Over the course of the episode, we meet Jamal who is an Egyptian American architectural engineer, who works as the restaurants maintenance man, whom Victor seems to have a prior previous relationship with. Kathryn, an attractive and professional Caucasian woman, who is a single mother with two children, whom Victor hires as a waitress; Rosa, an attractive, friendly and sociable Latina/Hispanic American woman originally from Mexico, who Victor hires as a chef; Henry, a polite American seventeen year old High School student, of Chinese descent, who Victor hires to deliver orders to customers outside the restaurant, and as a busboy; and Jesse (Jess for short), an older African-American man who is the restaurants first customer, and acts as a voice of reason character, and forms a close friendship with Victor, becoming his best friend. He also names the restaurant the series is branded after, "Crossroads Cafe."
Over the course of the series, the six characters I mentioned above, all run into several different situations, episodes, and issues.
Victor constantly stresses over the difficulties of running your own business, in addition to longing to spend more time with his daughter and granddaughter. He suffers a major heart attack later on in the series, which causes him to change his outlook on life. VIctor also receives American citizenship further on in the story.
Jamal feels his educational and work talents aren't reflective of his current situation, which is working as a maintenance man for a restaurant; to make his wife who is also working, and his daughter proud. Jamal is arrested later in the story for racial profiling, and it causes him to be negative towards police. He and his wife then discuss their positions on whether they should go back to Egypt or stay in America.
Kathryn is recently divorced, and deals with being a single mother with children. She eventually meets a regular customer, and develops a romantic relationship with him, (later getting married.) Kathryn then contemplates going to law school.
Rosa is a very skilled chef, and enjoys cooking very much. Her dream is to eventually open her own restaurant. However, she deals with several situations in the series, such as being racially discriminated against when she is looking for an apartment; helping a young girl she mentors, into going back to school; and finding a way to fit into professional high society people to help her with starting her own business.
Henry comes from a very strict Chinese family, and although Henry is well mannered and respects his parents, he has a modern personality and outlook. He runs into issues when forming a romantic relationship with a girl from school that is a different race than him; he helps his brother that gets involved with street gang that vandalizes the restaurant, and Henry aspires to be a Rock musician.
Jess acts as a wise tree conscious character. Although he doesn't work at the restaurant likewise with the other man characters, he is practically always seen inside the restaurant, interacting with the other characters, offering them advice. Jess is retired and married, and lives with his wife.
Basically, the way the story ends and ties together; Kathryn gets married to the customer she met, and decides to leave the restaurant, going to law school, and as her position as waitress is now open, a black Caribbean woman named Marre, replaces her. Henry and his band audition for a record label, but do not impress the management of the record company. Henry decides to stay at Crossroads Cafe, but also decides to go to college. Jamal and his wife ultimately decide to go back to Egypt after careful thinking.
Jess unexpectedly passes away near the very end of the story, and I felt the way they put this into the story was very foul, and it was very sudden.
Victor takes Jess death very seriously, and hints at possibly retiring and begins the process of transferring the ownership of the restaurant. However, Victor later changes his mind after the prospective owners mentioned that they will fire all the current employees at the restaurant.
Victor then essentially takes an indefinite break, and he appoints Rosa as the new owner of Crossroads Cafe, which Rosa is extremely happy and delighted by. Ending the story.
Crossroads Cafe is very interesting. I mean first and foremost it is an educational series about English and sociology, but the melodrama within the story was good. Someone else mentioned this, but the show is dated and takes place in the 90s, but it does have like a 70s and 80s appeal, which is meh. Which is hard to convey and explain, but people I think understand. There are a couple of cheesy moments within the show. There was one episode in particular, when a homeless vagabond with anxiety issues came into the restaurant begging for food, and throughout the episode all the characters went above and beyond to help this man find work, and it felt unrealistic to me, but yeah. There was also another episode to where Victor is being taken advantage of by a woman who is a scam artist, and the whole plot seemed confusing and puzzling.
During each episode, there are educational interludes, which one consists of a cartoon animated professor teaching the audience social rules, grammar, and other guidelines with socializing with people, (using fourth wall excerpts from the episode as examples); the other interlude consists of a nonfiction documentary segment, which profiles people dealing with everyday social issues and topics; those that are work related, social related and family, cultural and society related.
This is still an interesting series that combines a story line with educational undertones as well so Crossroads Cafe is still amazing in that way.
At that time, I never saw the complete series, but all the episodes (at least as of Fall 2020) are available on YouTube, and I finally saw every single episode.
The premise of the series revolves around Victor Bradshov. Victor is a Russian/Romanian heavy set man, who is the primary main character. Victor is an older man, who's wife recently passed away, and he is experiencing what looks like is a midlife crisis. He decides to fulfill a dying wish by his wife, which was to open a restaurant.
On the pilot episode, it is opening day at the restaurant, which Victor still has not yet given a name to. Victor hired a chef for the restaurant, but he gets into a quarrel with him, and the chef decides to quit. Over the course of the episode, we meet Jamal who is an Egyptian American architectural engineer, who works as the restaurants maintenance man, whom Victor seems to have a prior previous relationship with. Kathryn, an attractive and professional Caucasian woman, who is a single mother with two children, whom Victor hires as a waitress; Rosa, an attractive, friendly and sociable Latina/Hispanic American woman originally from Mexico, who Victor hires as a chef; Henry, a polite American seventeen year old High School student, of Chinese descent, who Victor hires to deliver orders to customers outside the restaurant, and as a busboy; and Jesse (Jess for short), an older African-American man who is the restaurants first customer, and acts as a voice of reason character, and forms a close friendship with Victor, becoming his best friend. He also names the restaurant the series is branded after, "Crossroads Cafe."
Over the course of the series, the six characters I mentioned above, all run into several different situations, episodes, and issues.
Victor constantly stresses over the difficulties of running your own business, in addition to longing to spend more time with his daughter and granddaughter. He suffers a major heart attack later on in the series, which causes him to change his outlook on life. VIctor also receives American citizenship further on in the story.
Jamal feels his educational and work talents aren't reflective of his current situation, which is working as a maintenance man for a restaurant; to make his wife who is also working, and his daughter proud. Jamal is arrested later in the story for racial profiling, and it causes him to be negative towards police. He and his wife then discuss their positions on whether they should go back to Egypt or stay in America.
Kathryn is recently divorced, and deals with being a single mother with children. She eventually meets a regular customer, and develops a romantic relationship with him, (later getting married.) Kathryn then contemplates going to law school.
Rosa is a very skilled chef, and enjoys cooking very much. Her dream is to eventually open her own restaurant. However, she deals with several situations in the series, such as being racially discriminated against when she is looking for an apartment; helping a young girl she mentors, into going back to school; and finding a way to fit into professional high society people to help her with starting her own business.
Henry comes from a very strict Chinese family, and although Henry is well mannered and respects his parents, he has a modern personality and outlook. He runs into issues when forming a romantic relationship with a girl from school that is a different race than him; he helps his brother that gets involved with street gang that vandalizes the restaurant, and Henry aspires to be a Rock musician.
Jess acts as a wise tree conscious character. Although he doesn't work at the restaurant likewise with the other man characters, he is practically always seen inside the restaurant, interacting with the other characters, offering them advice. Jess is retired and married, and lives with his wife.
Basically, the way the story ends and ties together; Kathryn gets married to the customer she met, and decides to leave the restaurant, going to law school, and as her position as waitress is now open, a black Caribbean woman named Marre, replaces her. Henry and his band audition for a record label, but do not impress the management of the record company. Henry decides to stay at Crossroads Cafe, but also decides to go to college. Jamal and his wife ultimately decide to go back to Egypt after careful thinking.
Jess unexpectedly passes away near the very end of the story, and I felt the way they put this into the story was very foul, and it was very sudden.
Victor takes Jess death very seriously, and hints at possibly retiring and begins the process of transferring the ownership of the restaurant. However, Victor later changes his mind after the prospective owners mentioned that they will fire all the current employees at the restaurant.
Victor then essentially takes an indefinite break, and he appoints Rosa as the new owner of Crossroads Cafe, which Rosa is extremely happy and delighted by. Ending the story.
Crossroads Cafe is very interesting. I mean first and foremost it is an educational series about English and sociology, but the melodrama within the story was good. Someone else mentioned this, but the show is dated and takes place in the 90s, but it does have like a 70s and 80s appeal, which is meh. Which is hard to convey and explain, but people I think understand. There are a couple of cheesy moments within the show. There was one episode in particular, when a homeless vagabond with anxiety issues came into the restaurant begging for food, and throughout the episode all the characters went above and beyond to help this man find work, and it felt unrealistic to me, but yeah. There was also another episode to where Victor is being taken advantage of by a woman who is a scam artist, and the whole plot seemed confusing and puzzling.
During each episode, there are educational interludes, which one consists of a cartoon animated professor teaching the audience social rules, grammar, and other guidelines with socializing with people, (using fourth wall excerpts from the episode as examples); the other interlude consists of a nonfiction documentary segment, which profiles people dealing with everyday social issues and topics; those that are work related, social related and family, cultural and society related.
This is still an interesting series that combines a story line with educational undertones as well so Crossroads Cafe is still amazing in that way.
